From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age? #544505-03533

From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age? #544505-03533

June 15, 2010 3:07pm

Submission Number:

544505-03533

Commenter:

Ron & Cynthia Deere

State:

New York

Initiative Name:

From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?

Sir, This nation is supposed to be free. According to the First Amendment, we have freedom of speech. What does this mean? It means that EVERYONE has a say on the public square. The person or group that presents the most compelling case wins the day. Of course, this principle carries over to all forms of communication. Let's take for example radio. Certainly, there are many conservative pundits. There are also liberal radio stations such as AirAmerica. Those who are of the liberal persuasion could have listened to AirAmerica (while it was in business). Because radio stations (just like every other business) have to win an audience sufficient to convince its sponsors to continue to sponsor its programs. Well, over time AirAmerica FAILED to command enough of an audience to continue its existence. What happens to businesses that fail to sell enough of their products or services? Answer: they fail. They go out of business. AirAmerica went out of business for lack of sufficient audience. However, there is a movement afoot on the part of government to MAKE liberal speech succeed through FORCING an equality between conservative and liberal speech! In so doing, government is acting as a sponsor to liberal speech and is therefore no longer impartial. Why do we say this? If government does not uphold AirAmerica, for instance, it would fail. Is this any of the government's business? Businesses have risen and fallen throughout our nation's history. In recent history, government has tried to make conditions favorable to ALL businesses. Wonderful! However, it is an entirely different thing for government to play favorites with one type of business over another. As the President says on opening day of baseball every year, "Play ball! And may the best team [business] win!" Sincerely, Ron & Cynthia Deere